"Maltreatment of children, aside
from their suffering as a result of hygienic and dietary ignorance, exists
only in the cities, and then principally among the immigrant Chinese, who
sometimes work their children very hard. In 1937 the Bangkok Times,
in an article commending the Government’s efforts to improve the physique
of young people, urged that something be done about child labor. That it
existed in the form of drawing water and hewing wood in Bangkok was
obvious, but to what extent sweated industries and forced labor in shops
and behind closed doors existed was unknown. Presumably information will
be forthcoming in the Government’s labor survey, now in preparation. It
is, however, in the regulated sale of children that hardship is most
widespread.

The recent investigations of the
Criminal Investigation Department, which were the result of a vigorous
press campaign, revealed conclusively a systematic trade in children. Poor
parents were sometimes forced to sell their children through agents, who
glibly promised them the tenderest and noblest of foster-parents. The
selling of daughters as concubines and the placing of children as
retainers in a patron’s home were well established Siamese traditions; but
it was the Penal Code of 1908, and later the depression, that put the
custom on a commercial basis. The law of 1908 set aside the old Siamese
law, which gave parents much greater authority over their children; and
twelve was made the age of consent. The age was later raised, but the
limitation of parental authority was not only an innovation in Siam but
unprecedented in civilized countries.

Under the new law kidnapping children from the ages
of ten to fourteen became illegal only for ransom or for immoral purposes,
which were hard to prove. Girls sold ostensibly for domestic service were
put into brothels; and though the Government was officially against this,
public opinion was still lethargic. Rama VI had scored "parental
irresponsibility as being responsible for the present rather
unsatisfactory state of morality prevalent in Bangkok and other towns,"5
and public opinion still condones by acquiescence the looseness of
morality. Prince Sakol [หม่อมเจ้า สกล วรวรรณากร วรวรรณ - M. C. Sakol
Varavarn, 1888 - 1952] is trying by vigorous propaganda to awaken Bangkok
people and especially to interest Siamese ladies in the organization of a
service for unwanted children and unmarried mothers."

"In 1937 the Ministry of
Education "adopted a policy of encouraging private schools to take
over elementary education," and an annual subsidy was established to
support this move, with mission schools sharing in the financial
assistance."

Malay adults object to purely Siamese
education for their children because Siamese is not their
language.

They object because their children have
no opportunity to study Mohammedanism if Siamese is their
language. They fear their children will be won over to Buddhism.

They object to having their children
study for three years and still not know either Siamese or Malay
well.

It is consequently suggested:

If the government intends to enforce the
educational laws, those laws should be strictly enforced in
order to guarantee the Malay people a basic Siamese education.
Malay education should be allowed after the pupils have a
Siamese foundation.

If an attitude of tolerance is to be
shown, then it would be better to encourage a Malay education,
using Siamese script for the Malay words.

After becoming familiar with Siamese
script, the Malays could easily learn Siamese."

"Major-General Luang
Wichitwathakan (also known as just Wichit Wichitwathakan)
(Thai หลวงวิจิตรวาทการ, วิจิตร วิจิตรวาทการ; Chinese 金良) (August 11,
1898[1]–March 31,
1962[2]) was a Thai
politician, playwright and historian. He was the chief ideologue and
creator of cultural campaigns during the pre-World War II military
rule of Field Marshall Plaek Pibulsonggram (แปลก
พิบูลสงคราม),
aimed at increasing the sense of nationalism of the Thais.

Early life

Wichitwathakan was born
Kim Liang (Chinese: 金良), the son of a merchant in Uthai Thani
Province (อุทัยธานี),[3]
.[4]

In a 1986 interview, his
cousin Witun Wathanaparueda, a former Thai ambassador to Brazil and
South Vietnam, said their paternal grandfather was an ethnic
Chinese, adding that their family had been culturally assimilated
into Thai ways.[5]

Throughout his political
life, however, Wichitwathakan would deny having any Chinese
ancestry, claiming his Chinese birth name was due to a custom of the
local Thais, in which parents give their Thai children Chinese
names.

Luang Wichitwathakan was
prominently engaged in politics and the modernization of Thailand.
He played an important role in establishing the Thai national
identity and in changing the name of the country from Siam.[6])
He was also a prolific writer and playwright.

He received his primary
education in a Buddhist temple school in Uthaithani. He continued
the Buddhist education at Wat Mahathat (วัดมหาธาตุยุวราชรังสฤษฎิ์ราชวรมหาวิหาร)
in Bangkok. He excelled in Buddhist studies, reaching a high stage
of Parien and graduating first in the kingdom. He received an award
from King Vajiravudh for academic excellence.

While still a monk in Wat
Mahatat, Wichitwathakan wrote extensively in papers which he
circulated among the monks. The papers were written in English,
French, or German and were sometimes inflammatory regarding temple
rules and regulations. This was finally stopped by the abbot, who
prohibited the use of western languages .[7]
In 1913, Wichitwathakan adopted the surname Wathanapreeda (which
literally means development of happiness), following the royal
decree issued by King Vajiravudh for all Thais to have surnames.[8]

Wichitwathakan had a keen
interest in English and French, and translated some original Thai
literary works into English, which he published through a Chinese
curator, but which met with little commercial success.[9]
Between 1921-1927 Wichit studied at the University of Paris.[10]

At the age of 20, Wichitwathakan decided to leave the monkhood in
favor of secular life and was admitted to the Ministry of Foreign
affairs as a junior clerk. From this position in 1918,
Wichitwathakan rose, through his own exceptional capability and
diligence, to become Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1942.

Service
in France

In 1921, Wichitwathakan was posted to the Royal Siamese Legation
(equivalent to present-day embassy) in Paris, France, as Third
Secretary. During his five years in Europe, Wichitwathakan served as
a member of the Siamese delegation that attended and participated in
deliberations of the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. He
also studied Law and Political Sciences at the University of Paris.
It was in Paris that he developed close friendships with the future
revolutionaries, Pridi Phanomyong, also studying Law at Sorbonne,
and Plaek Pibulsongkram, a military officer studying Artillery in
France.

Marriage

While in Paris, Wichit took
French lessons from Lucienne Laffitte (née Guillaume), a cultivated
French lady who was well-read and musically gifted. They
subsequently married and together returned to Siam in the year 1927.
While Wichitwathakan continued to work at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Madame Lucienne collaborated with him in several of his
important historical publications, notably Prawatsart Sakon
("Universal History" - in this context means international or world
history). Despite this creative partnership and the births of a son
and a daughter, the marriage dissolved six years later and Madame
Lucienne returned to France with her two children.[11]
Luang Wichit subsequently married Prapapan Rapipan (Khunying
Prapapan Vichit-Vadakan), a teacher of history and daughter of Khoon
Vorasarndarunkit who was in charge of education in northern Siam
under King Rama V.

In Siam

After his return to Siam, Wichitwathakan met again with Pridi
Phanomyong and Plaek Pibulsongkram, the conspirators of the Siamese
coup d'état of 1932;[12].

Wichitwathakan was
chairman of the committee which proposed changing the country's name
from Siam to Thailand at the state convention in 1939. He led an
irredentist campaign after being presented a map produced by Ecole
Francaise d'Extrene Orient showing the Thai race inhabiting the
areas of Siam, Burma and Southern China. Wichitwathakan estimated
from this map that there were approximately 60 millions Thai
inhabiting the lands of Southern China and Southeast Asia, and
through his personal crusade as both a historian and a politician,
was instrumental in effectuating the name change from Siam to
Thailand when the state convention ratified the committee's proposal
in 1939.

Revolutionary
role

Although Wichitwathakan did not participate in the revolution
against King Prajadhipok, he performed an important role in the
conversion from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy. When
Pridi Phanomyong started the clandestine party called Khana Ratsadon
(คณะราษฎร,
People's Party), he consulted with former
Thai students from Paris including Field Marshal Pibulsongkram,
Prayun Phamonmontri and Thatsanai Mitraphakdi and Wichitwathakan.
Pridi Phanomyong (ปรีดี พนมยงค์)
specifically asked Wichitwathakan to join this secret association
whose purpose was to overthrow the absolute monarchy. Wichitwathakan
at this point in time still maintained loyalty to King Prajadhipok
and was in favor of a conciliatory approach with regard to the
Siamese royalty. Concerned about the socialistic and communistic
ideology of Pridi Phanomyong, Wichitwathakan joined a royalist and
free enterprise party called Kana Chart (National Party) while
continuing to attend the clandestine meetings of the Ratsadon Party.

When King Prajadhipok
indicated his willingness to support the armed royalist challenge to
the People's Party and gave his blessing to Prince Bovoradej to
mobilize his soldiers and attack Bangkok, Wichitwathakan forsook his
loyalty to the King to align himself with the representative
government as a member of the national assembly. While Pibul fought
the insurrection of Prince Bovoradej (พระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เ้ธอ
พระองค์เจ้าบวรเดช) militarily, Wichitwathakan
played an important political role by being in charge of convincing
the public and uncommitted military forces in the provinces to side
with the government.

Wartime
service

In 1942, Wichitwathakan became Minister of Foreign Affairs under
Prime Minister Field Marshal Pibulsongkram and was responsible for
negotiating free passage for the invading Japanese army in exchange
for maintaining the sovereignty and independence of Thailand. He
then assumed the duty of Thai Ambassador to Japan during the
remainder of World War II, being stationed in Tokyo. Upon the
unconditional surrender of Japan to the Allies at the end of the
World War II conflict, Wichitwathakan was arrested by the American
occupying forces along with the German Ambassador, Italian
Ambassador and the entire Japanese Cabinet. His wife, Khunying
Wichitwathakan requested and obtained a personal audience with
General Douglas MacArthur during which she succeeded in explaining
to him that as Foreign Minister, her husband had no alternative but
to negotiate a treaty of free passage in exchange for maintaining
the independence of Thailand. General Douglas MacArthur released
Wichitwathakan from imprisonment and allowed him to return to
Thailand on an American airplane. However, upon arrival to Bangkok,
Wichitwathakan was rearrested and imprisoned by the new postwar
government of Prime Minister Khuang Apaiwong (ควง อภัยวงศ์).
Wichitwathakan was incarcerated along with former Prime Minister
Field Marshal Pibulsongkram, to be tried in Thai court as war
criminals. Subsequently, all charges were dropped and they were both
acquitted and released from incarceration.

Post-war
service

After having been granted freedom, Luang Wichitwathakan temporarily
dissociated himself from politics and became a nationally prominent
playwright, author and historian. Most of his plays, songs, fictions
as well as history and religious books were composed during the four
years following his release from incarceration.

Then in the year 1948,
Luang Wichitwathakan assisted Field Marshal Pibulsomgkram in staging
a coup d'état which toppled Kuang Apaiwong from power.
Wichitwathakan served in the new government as Minister of Finance
and Minister of Economic Affairs and subsequently became Ambassador
to India in 1952 and Ambassador to Switzerland, Austria and
Yugoslavia in 1953. He also promoted the unification and nationalism
of the people of Thailand by composing a series of nationalistic
theatrical works, known as the Anupap series, which were performed
at the National theater. This series of plays, titled Anupap Porkoon
Ramkamhaeng (Power of King Ramkamhaeng), Anupap Haeng Kwam Seasara
(Power of Sacrifice), Anupap Haeng Kwam Rak (Power of Love) were
composed at the urging of Prime Minister Pibulsongkram with the
purpose of strengthening the unity and cohesiveness of the Thai
people.

In 1958, Luang
Wichitwathakan participated in the coup d'état staged by Field
Marshal Sarit Thanarat and removed Field Marshal Pibulsongkram from
power. Wichitwathakan assumed the title of Paladbunchagarn of the
Prime Minister's Office, equivalent to the position of Chef du
Cabinet, or Secretary General of Office of the Prime Minister. He
served Field Marshal Sarit as his closest confidant and advisor and
politically played an active role in promoting the nationalism of
the people of Thailand.

Wichitwathakan died in
1962 at age 64 years after a long cardiac illness.

Appointments

1934-1942. Director General
of the Department of Fine Arts

1942-1943. Minister of
Foreign Affairs

1943-1945. Ambassador to
Japan

1951-1952. Minister of
Finance

1952. Minister of Economic
Affairs

1952-1953 Ambassador to
India

1953-1957 Ambassador to
Switzerland, Austria and Yugoslavia

1957-1962 Paladbunchagarn
(Special Assistant) to the Office of the Prime Minister Field
Marshal Sarit Thanarat

"Unfortunately, there is
only too good reason to believe that these anti-foreign tendencies
are being fostered deliberately by the military party and that the
Minister of Defence [Phibulsongkram -พิบูลสงคราม, 1897 - 1964]
connives at them. Anti-French and anti-British references have even
been allowed to appear in the official monthly organs of the Army
and of the Navy... it is they who must be held ultimately
responsible for the chauvinistic tone of press and its growing
effect upon public opinion."

"Unfavourable references to Germany and Italy in
the vernacular journals are infrequent. Allusions to Japan are in
general flattering, but the attitude of the military party towards
her is none the less a guarded one. In the last resort they fear
her... Their avowed object is to preserve their neutrality in the
case of a war between Japan and Britain."

"An
eminent Chinese banker congratulated his countrymen in 1932 on the
fact that all through the depression Chinese immigrants in Siam had
not diminished the scale of their remittances home, which he placed
at an aggregate of $50 million per annum, a sum equal at the then
rate of exchange to no less than Baht 37 million. It is possible
that this was an overestimation, and there are no means available in
Siam of checking the calculation: but the statement is probably not
far short of the truth. It is no secret that the Siamese himself
does not take kindly to commerce, and most of the internal and
practically all of the external trade is in foreign hands.

The trouble lies in the fact that nearly all the
profits of internal trade are remitted and not retained in the
country. They form part of the invisible imports. . . .

Careful attention should be devoted to any
measure or series of measures the object of which is the retention
of a larger share of the country’s earnings; for attainment of this
object would result in the building up of those resources of
national wealth available for capital development, which are today
so strikingly non-existent."

"We consider Europeans and
Americans to be misguided in their religious views. When these
people die, are they to be reborn [as a result of such views] in the
land of Thailand? Are they to encounter the great suffering and
hardship [that is faced by the Thai at the present moment] as a
result of the fact that they did not engage in merit-making
activities in their previous existence as we have done? And what
about us? Thai people are correct in their views, engage in
merit-making acts, and wish for all sorts of things. So tell me:
when we die, are we to be reborn over in Western countries? Will we
have all of the skills and abilities [that the Westerners have in
the present day]? [And having been reborn in Western countries] will
we live the lives of happiness and comfort that each and every one
of us has wished for [while living our lives of great suffering and
hardship in Thailand]?"

"Dwelling on a similar
theme, Narin declares that it is his strongly held opinion that in
many ways Westerners are following the intentions of the Buddha more
truly than the Siamese themselves. This is because Westerners are
rational in their actions and work for realistic consequences that
they can observe with their own eyes. As a result, it is the Siamese
who have been forced to spend so much of their money to send their
students abroad and import foreign teachers to Siam rather than the
other way around. Narin laments that every single Siamese male wants
to become a monk but not a single one of them has the slightest idea
of how to make the robes that a monk wears. In order to ordain in
the hope of benefits obtained in future lifetimes, they can only
rely on Chinese merchants, whose benefits in selling them their
robes are to materialize considerably sooner."

"I understand the story of
King Taksin [ตากสินมหาราช,
1734 - 1782] with such clarity that I alone,
prior to anyone else, have been brave enough to bring up [his
sanity] as a topic with which to confront all of the sane people out
there. I explain to them how great and truly incomparable the virtue
of this man [and his benefit to our] country of Thailand. Without
Taksin, we would surely live as slaves just like all of our
neighbors. Narin therefore has not the slightest fear of other
people. He is stubborn enough to believe in his own wisdom, grasping
the underlying reason that [Taksin] is not crazy at all. Had he not
been killed, many years ago our country and its religion would have
become more advanced than even the nation of Japan."

Both white
elephants and Siamese cats are virtually extinct in Siam, but the
country is the most Oriental of all Far Eastern lands.

The temples of Siam are as magnificently
dazzling as any dream of the Orient could be.

In atmosphere, too, Siam conforms to
occidental notions of what the East should be. There is an attitude
of lotus-eating languor, and any show of zeal in work that may be
observed is by Chinese immigrants. The Siamese viewpoint, expressed
in an old proverb, is that "in the water there is fish and in the
ground there is rice" which with the sparse population means that
not much is required for their simple wants. So they take life
easily - and smilingly.

In another respect Siam actually conforms to
the Hollywood tradition of all the Orient. There are really dancing
girls there. Even in the few modern cabarets in Bangkok girls in the
"floor show" still use the old native singing and hand rhythm,
although often combining them with some Western foot and hip
movement. It is slow and sinuous. And you can express your adoration
for any given dancer by buying for a baht (about 45 cents) one of
the red or white flowers in her hair. That's also an old Siamese
custom."

All Siamese Overseas
Chinese United Front for Anti-Japanese Resistance and National Salvation
(抗聯 - Kang Lian)

文抗(Wen Kang - Cultural Resistance)

商抗 (Shang
Kang - Commercial Resistance)

婦抗 (Fu
Kang - Women's Resitance)

工抗
(Gong Kang -
Workers Resistance)

學抗
(Xue Kang -
Student Resistance)

"The Eighth Route Army
(simplified Chinese:
八路军; traditional Chinese: 八路軍;
pinyin:
bālù-jūn), also known as the 18th Army
Group of the National Revolutionary Army (國民革命軍) of the Republic of
China (中華民國),
was group army under the command of the Chinese Communist Party (中國共產黨),
nominally within the structure of the Chinese military headed by the
Chinese Nationalist Party (中國國民黨)
during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The Eighth Route Army was
created from the Chinese Red Army (中國人民解放軍)
on September 22, 1937, when the Chinese Communists and Chinese
Nationalist Party formed the Second United Front (第二次国共合作)
against Japan the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, as World
War II is known in China. Together with the New Fourth Army (新四军),
the Eighth Route Army formed the main Communist fighting force
during the war and was commanded by Communist party leader Mao
Zedong (毛泽东,
1893 - 1976) and general Zhu
De (朱德,
1886 - 1976). Though officially designated the 18th Group
Army by the Nationalists, the unit was referred to by the Chinese
Communists and Japanese military as the Eighth Route Army. The
Eighth Route Army wore Nationalist uniforms and flew the flag of the
Republic of China and waged mostly guerrilla war against the
Japanese, collaborationist forces and, later in the war, other
Nationalist forces. The unit was renamed the People's Liberation
Army) in 1947, after the end of World War II, as the Chinese
Communists and Nationalists resumed the Chinese Civil War.

The Eighth Route Army
consisted of three divisions (the 115th, which was commanded by Lin
Biao (林彪,
1907 - 1971), the 120th
under He Long (賀龍,
1896 - 1969), and the 129th under Liu Bocheng (劉伯承,
1892 - 1986)). During World War II, the Eighth Route Army
operated mostly in North China, infiltrating behind Japanese lines,
to establish guerrilla bases in rural and remote areas. The main
units of the Eighth Route Army were aided by local militias
organized from the peasantry.

The Communist Party's
liaison offices in cities under Nationalist control such as
Chongqing (重庆),
Guilin (桂林)
and Dihua (Ürümqi)
(乌鲁木齐市
· ئۈرۈمچى شەھىرى)that
were called Eighth Route Army Offices."

"Its
operational procedure went something like this: Chu Jian Tuan would
gather intelligence from dock coolies already under triad control to
find out which local merchants were connected with export and import
shipments to and from Japan. Based on that information, Kang Lian [抗聯]
would issue a letter of warning to each of those merchants, giving
detailed and precise records of the Japanese shipments concerned,
and demanding that they place an advertisement for their personal
apology and repentance in local Chinese newspapers within three
days, as well as pay a fine to the anti-Japanese cause by
transferring money through a Bangkok-based Chinese bank into a CCP-owned
[中國共產黨]
bank account in Hong Kong [香港].
Usually, one such letter was enough to bring about instant
compliance. Otherwise, a second letter would be sent. Further
procrastination or refusal to comply on the part of the recalcitrant
nation-selling merchants would result in their serious injury or
elimination by Chu Jian Tuan agents. Given the booming, lucrative
nature of this respectable anti-Japanese, nationalist extortion
racket, up to ten other less, or differently, principled movements
and gangs soon emerged, some Kuomintang-led [中國國民黨],
or non-partisan and self-organized, others simply criminal and
opportunistic. At one point, the racket ring became so crowded and
chaotic that Kang Lian decided to impose some order and discipline
with its own newly-created armed force, the "Overseas Chinese Anti-
Japanese Vanguard" or "Min Xian" [民前]
(People’s Vanguard). Min Xian inspected, selected, and pressured
only quality organizations among the mixed lot into joining an
umbrella organization called "Sahasamakhom Prasan-ngan Koochat Totan
Yipun" [สหสมาคมประสานงานคู่ชาติต่อต้านญี่ปุ่น]
(Coordinated Anti-Japanese Resistance and National Salvation United
Association) or "Nine Parties."

The
effectiveness of the Kang Lian and Chu Jian Tuan-imposed anti-
Japanese boycott and trade sanctions in Siam can be gauged from
contemporary Japanese and Thai official reports.

By the end of August 1937, all Japanese
goods in the Siamese market, from cloth to pottery, were totally
boycotted by Chinese merchants.

By the end of October 1937, all Chinese
merchants completely refused to trade either openly or secretly
with Japan.

By January 1938, Indian merchants
followed suit.

And by the end of March 1938, the
voluntary boycott of Japanese goods by local Chinese consumers
had markedly increased; there were more reported cases of
Chinese merchants who traded with Japan being subjected to
violence, including exporters of rice, salt, and buffalo leather
to the Japanese market; and the shipping of Japanese imports
came to a complete halt as local coolies and boats refused to
handle goods from Japanese-related ocean liners.

Never before had Japanese merchants in Siam
suffered so much, a March 1938 issue of the journal of the Japanese
Chamber of Commerce in Siam concluded gloomily. However, this bore
no comparison at all with the tragic fate of their Chinese trading
partners. As of July 30, 1940, sixty-one of them had been killed in
the ongoing, violent boycott and trade sanctions campaign, according
to a Thai government committee report.

"The writer spent an
afternoon in the shop of one such modern quack in Huey Yot [ห้วยยอด].
His shop was neat and clean and well stocked with imposing bottles
full of various colored liquids. Every bottle was neatly lettered in
English. The "doctor" was very hospitable and proudly exhibited his
stock. The bottles bore such unusual names that the writer felt
impelled to inquire as to the origin of some of them. The "doctor"
explained that a Bangkok friend had done the labels for him. He
himself could not read English. This explained everything, because
the bottles bore such titles as "Potent Water", "Murder",
"Efficacious Liquid", "Love Potion", "Energy Liquor", "Motive Power
Powders", etc. The crowning touch was three brown jugs which the
"doctor" explained were a set. They bore three labels in sequence
which read: "Love", "Intrigue", "Sudden Death". He admitted that he
never gave any of the liquids as medicines, but that they were there
to look imposing and to attract trade. His only actual prescription
was an injection of Neosalvarsan [Mittel zur Behandlung von
Syphilis]. His shop window was piled high with empty bottles which
indicated the briskness of his business."

"In north and central China, Japanese
soldiers committed frightful atrocities—of which the Rape of Nanking in
1937 was only the most notorious example. A Japanese corporal returning
from central China in 1942 boasted to friends:

"While out foraging for
supplies we got hold of a pregnant woman. We stuck our bayonets in
her huge belly and skewered her like a piece of meat."

One Japanese soldier told of
seeing others

"beat a Chinese with rocks
until his skull split open and he fell in a pool of blood. Then they
kicked him and threw more stones. Officers watched the killing and
did nothing."

In many combat sectors, Japanese
policy was to put the torch to everything along its Army's line of
march. Recalled a soldier: "Every village and hamlet in the operations
zone was burned to the ground. Not even a single puppy was left alive."

The
Siam Society has to-day invited you to inspect a collection of national and tribal dresses gathered from all over the Kingdom during the last few years, and it is hoped that you will take this rather unique opportunity to acquaint yourselves with these interesting costumes, many of which are quite pretty, besides showing no mean ability and artistic sense in the execution of the different patterns and the composition of the colours used.

A
few years ago I got the idea of collecting, as far as possible, all the national costumes of the various branches of the Thai people, as well as all the dresses of the non-Thai communities who are mostly domiciled in the hills on the western boundary of the kingdom and in the mountainous North. My thought was really to have all these dresses executed in a size to suit models of a height of not more than fifty centimetres.

These models, clothed correctly to represent all the various elements of the population of the kingdom of Siam were to be placed in air-tight glass show cases and placed on the top of the book cases of our Library. It is my hope that it will still be possible to do so, though the better solution would of course be that the National Museum establish a Folk Museum or an ethnographical branch, where all the national and tribal costumes of Siam would be exhibited on full size models, wearing the traits of the respective branches of the great Thai nation and of the many lesser tribes, whether of Mongolian, Môn-Khmer or Negrito stock.
As you will see, the dresses exhibited here are of varying sizes, some in full size and some in reduced size, due to the instructions not being followed by all the contributors.
During my frequent travels in the provinces in these latter years I have noticed to my sorrow how the picturesque and time-honoured national and regional costumes, nearly all over the land, are fast disappearing, to be replaced by dresses of a more or less international fashion. To cite examples : in the town of Chiengmai
[เชียงใหม่] to-day one rarely sees a girl or woman, with the exception of the quite old women, wearing the pretty yellow phā-sin
[ผ้าซิ่น] with the black horizontal stripes ; the same is the case with the girls of the North-Eastern Thai. It has been rightly said that the honk of the motor lorry with its load of cheap foreign textiles sounds the death knell of the national costumes, while the radio and the cinematograph are rapidly exterminating provincial dialects and ancient manners and customs.

Therefore if future
generations are not to be kept in ignorance as to how their ancestors clothed themselves, it is high time now to collect all the various dresses still worn by the inhabitants of this picturesque and beautiful land, and to keep them carefully preserved in our museums for future information and study.

The exhibition you see to-day
gives a fairly good impression of that richness of national and tribal costumes which is Siam's. It is, however, not complete, as some tribes in the North as well as some in the North-east are still unrepresented. In all some seventy-two distinct national and tribal dresses are exhibited, though some of them only represent septs or clans of the same tribe.

The bringing together
of this rich collection is first of all due to His Serene Highness Prince Varnvaidyakorn's unstinted and generous assistance. As a matter of fact, without the help of His Serene Highness this exhibition would not have been possible. I take this opportunity to tender the sincerest thanks of the Council and the Members of the Siam Society to His Serene Highness for his very kind and interested succour."

"Major Erik
Seidenfaden (1881–1958) was a Danish ethnologist and
anthropologist who researched and authored books, on the history,
culture and languages of the Thai peoples. As an expatriate major
serving in the Siamese military, Seidenfaden lived in Thailand from
1906 to 1947. He served as part of the Provincial Gendarmerie where
his role was to assist with the modernization of the Siamese
military. He played an active role in the Siam Society."

"A
second conflict within the Thammayut order [ธรรมยุติกนิกาย]
took place at Wat Phichaiyat [วัดพิชยญาติการามวรวิหาร]
in Thonburi [ธนบุรี],
across the river from Bangkok. The dispute started in January 1938
when the abbot, Methathammarot (Sao Soriyo), together with
twenty-seven resident monks and thirteen novices, requested that
their temple be returned to the Mahanikai order [มหานิกาย].
The Thammayut senior monks not only refused to let the wat convert,
they sought to defrock the abbot. When the Mahanikai somdet,
Wannarat (Phae) [สมเด็จพระวันรัต (แพ
ติสฺสเทโว,
1856 - 1944)], became supreme patriarch in
November 1938, the case was decided in favor of the abbot of Wat
Phichaiyat and his monks. By 2 September 1939 the monks and novices
at Wat Phichaiyat were legally and ceremonially returned to the
Mahanikai order."

"After Siwichai died, his
body was kept for six years. On his cremation day in 1944,
Siwichai’s followers came to his funeral in Lamphun [ลำพูน
/ หละปูน] from as far
away as Sipsong Panna [สิบสองปันนา / 西双版纳州]
(now in China) and Chiang Saen [เชียงแสน]
(the northernmost district of Chiang Rai Province [เชียงราย
/ เจียงฮาย]). Some
came from various hill-tribe villages in Chiang Mai [เชียงใหม่]
and Lamphun. The sangha provincial heads of Lamphun and Chiang Mai,
however, refused to attend the cremation."

Pra Kruba
Srivichai [ครูบาศรีวิชัย]
has been called the 'Engineer Monk' because he mounted and
supervised over one hundred construction projects in northern
Thailand, including the erection of many Buddhist wats (temples). Of
special note, he organized the building of a road leading to Wat
Phrathat Doi Suthep [วัดพระธาตุดอยสุเทพ],
the grandiose temple complex that sits on a mountain top overlooking
the city of Chiang Mai [เชียงใหม่].
The road went under construction in 1934 (2477 in the Thai
calendar).

At that time
only the strong and devoted made the minimum five hour hike up the
mountain to Doi Suthep (ดอยสุเทพ)
through dense tropical forest. Ajahn Pichest Boonthumme [อาจารย์พิเชษฐ์
บุญธรรมมี] has said
that at that time the government couldn't raise sufficient money to
build the road, so they called upon Kruba Srivichai to help. He sent
word far and wide, and because of his great popularity, volunteers
came from all over Thailand to lend a hand to the effort. It is said
that as many as 3,000 to 4,000 people a day came to build the road,
which was originally paved in stone.

Because so
many volunteers heeded his call, Kruba’s original request for each
village group to complete 50 feet of road was decreased to 10-15
feet. Day by day, a massive volunteer workforce cleared the area and
set stones on the roadway. The road was completed in 5 months and 20
days. Kruba Srivichai was the first to inaugurate the opening of the
road on 30 April, 1935.

Kruba was
ordained at Wat Ban Pang [วัดบ้านปาง]
in Lamphun [ลำพูน],
where he began studies at the age of eighteen. He was quickly
recognized as a great and pious monk, even among the hill tribe
people. He passed away on 20 February 1938 (BE 2481) at the age of
60. His bones remain in the stupa at Wat Chammadevi. He was given
the title Nak Bun Haeng Lanna
[นักบุญแห่งล้านนา],
which may be translated as Lanna
Saint.

A very
important and often visited monument honoring Kruba is located just
past the Chiang Mai zoo [สวนสัตว์เชียงใหม่],
in front of Huay Kaew (ห้วยแก้ว)
falls. Visitors and pilgrims to Doi Suthep routinely stop here to
make offerings and send prayers on their way up (and down) the
mountain.

Kruba
Srivichai was famous for his kind, pious and compassionate nature.
He ate very little, and spent long hours in meditation. He was very
bright and was always doing good works for Thai people. Even as a
youth he was regarded with great merit. He is known to have
regularly released caged animals, and to have given away to others
the food and alms that was given to him on his daily rounds, an act
that angered many of his patrons who feared that they would not be
blessed if he gave away their offerings.

Pichest
Boonthamme [อาจารย์พิเชษฐ์
บุญธรรมมี] considers
Kruba a patron saint, and has very prominent altars and photos of
him in his classroom, alongside the Buddha, Shivaga Komarpaj [ชีวกโกมารภัจจ์],
(the father of Thai massage), and the Thai Earth Mother [พระแม่ธรณี]."